Welcome Home
by Pretty Shimmie
Summary: Its funny to realize how much you've missed while you've been away. Its even funnier to realize how much you miss while you're still here. Ino/Shika. Sort of.
1. Initiation

A/N: Uh, it's been a while? Yeah. This story is what it is. I don't know. I don't own this stuff.

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><p>She turned the water as high as she could stand it before stepping in and sitting on the floor of the tub. She sighed. The shower spigot couldn't pump water out fast or hard enough for her. <em>Sigh<em>.

She'd have to be careful of how much she sighed. She felt nauseous enough as it was; another sigh might make her vomit and clog the drain. 'Then I could drown myself in water and regurgitation,' she mused with a grim smile to herself. _Sigh_. That was just a deep breath, not another sigh. Obviously.

Perhaps she should ask Sakura to do a scan for her heart and soul. They appeared to be missing, currently.

But her heart was inundated with a numbing, crushing, debilitating ache, so it must still be there. Maybe her guilt was gone? Or her common sense? It had to be that one.

Steam billowed throughout the small bathroom and fogged the mirror.

She pushed her long, wet, blonde hair out of her wide, blue eyes.

In her tiny room, her phone did not ring.

Her window did not rattle with a stone thrown, nor did it squeak, as it was not opened by a visitor.

Her door was not knocked at and her lock was not picked.

Her tiny room remained quite still and her tiny apartment was not disturbed.

The water kept running and he did not come.

X

It began innocently enough.

Ino had just returned from a long mission to Sunagakure to assist Gaara in training some fledgling Sand kunoichi. She had spent months with hardened, pre-teen killers to make them more feminine, more appealing, more useful on seduction missions. It was a nasty thing to teach such young girls and it made Ino spit every time she thought about it, but it was the price she paid when she became the best at what she did.

Not that _that_ was such a consolation prize, either.

But she liked spending time with the girls. They were clever, precocious, and willing to learn, and she loved them dearly for it. She had been sad to go home. Sort of.

But come home she had, and as Ino had a way of not letting some old habits die, she quickly learned of all the gossip and goings-on she had missed while she was away.

Neji and TenTen were _so close_ to dating, it could kill her. Ino mused that she might have to intervene on their behalf, just so they'd realize their feelings and have sex already. TenTen was definitely not a virgin, with all the seduction missions she'd gone on, but Neji most certainly was. An orgasm was sure to cheer the Hyuuga up, _finally_.

Lee was still sweet, still charming, still naïve. He'd begun to tentatively try to court Sakura for the first time since their first Chuunin Exams. Sakura, she knew, was still an emotional wreck over Sasuke, but Lee might be the one to change her mind. Sakura had mentioned that she thought she'd give it a try, at which Ino had cheered.

Naruto and Hinata were still dating, of course. They were Konoha's dream couple and were just perfect perfect perfect. Ino had to congratulate Hinata though, despite her jealousy. If anyone deserved a perfect man, it was sweet little Hinata. After six years of admiring from afar and six years of pestering and nagging from herself and Sakura, Hinata had plucked up her courage and asked him out herself. They'd been dating for two years in perfect perfect perfect bliss.

Chouji was still pleasantly plump and happy. Ino was sure to schedule a day where she and Chouji could just catch up and see each other. He was an unexpectedly wonderful friend.

Kiba was still kind of an asshole. A lovable one, but an asshole all the same. He'd meandered right into the family flower shop she worked at when she could to proclaim his lust for her in various kinds of ways, to which she rolled her eyes and said, "Can't you let me be home for twenty four hours before you try to get into my pants?" He looked at the silly pocket watch he insisted on carrying and told her he'd be back in five hours. She rolled her eyes again. They'd had a strange friends-with-benefits thing that was starting to get on her nerves. She'd expected him to move on to some other chuunin kunoichi by now.

Shino was still… Shino. She didn't bother.

Shikamaru and Temari had started dating (_again_) almost immediately after she had left. Ino could have puked up a lung. She was so sick of their on again, off again relationship and, not that she would admit it to anyone, Shikamaru had become rather striking lately. And no matter how much she enjoyed working with Kankuro while she was in Sand and no matter how much she enjoyed flirting with the easily ruffled Gaara, there would never be anything in the Sand kunoichi that she would like. They were both too stubborn, too dominant, too eager to gain the attention of a certain brunette ninja.

"I just don't see why you can't suck it up and be friends," Sakura had said pointedly over coffee. Ino had scoffed, sipping her sugarcoated drink. "We are exactly the same personality type, and I'm a domineering individual. Besides, she's also a bitch." Sakura smiled at her best friend. "Would this have anything to do with her relationship with our favorite lazy nin-".

"I do not have the slightest idea what you're talking about, Sakura."

Sakura laughed as Ino sulked. "You drama queen. Oh Ino, the only way he'll know how you feel is if you tell him. He's lazy; he won't ever make the first move. Still, it's strange. When we were thirteen, I expected you and Shikamaru to be married at this point." Ino dramatically rolled her eyes. "You only expected that so I would no longer be your romantic rival for dear Sasuke." Sakura half-heartedly chuckled before sighing and gazing out onto the street, a faraway look in her eyes. Oh dear. Wrong thing to say.

Ino contemplated on all that she had gleaned about everyone else as she walked to her tiny apartment that night. Things were relatively habitual and normal for everyone. _Booooring_. Ino thought she'd been doing the most exciting things out of any of them recently. Hm. She looked up and stopped dead in her tracks. How could she have forgotten? _Oh no_. Ino had bolted as fast as she possibly could to the flower shop.

It was empty when she arrived at her destination, heaps of flowers in her arms. Despite the slight winter chill, the flora in Ino's grasp were all exotic, all healthy, all vibrant. She silently stepped around various headstones and tombstones with only the moonlight to guide her until she reached Asuma's. The air was stale with the slight scent of tobacco.

"I hope I brought enough to make up for being late," she'd said out loud. She began to meticulously arrange them for him. "I hope you can forgive me, Asuma. I'm almost never late. It was always Shikamaru and Chouji who were massively late, do you remember? I was always the model of attendance and timeliness. Those boys were such a handful, hm?"

"I seem to recall _you_ being the handful, Ino."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, but she knew who it was that surprised her. "For all that shogi you played with him, Sensei, you'd think he'd have developed a better memory." Ino didn't turn around, but continued to arrange her mountain of flowers. "I was the angel of Team Ino-Shika-Cho. Obviously. That's why my name came first, right Asuma?" She poked the headstone in camaraderie.

A chuckle came from behind her. "Oh please."

Ino finally turned around, but wished she hadn't.

Shikamaru was leaning against a headstone, a cigarette dangling from his lips the same way Asuma used to do it. At twenty, it was amazing how much he had grown. He stood at a commanding six-foot-three and was compacted with hard, lean muscle. Of course his head still looked like a pineapple, but Ino found it rather charming than annoying now. His mesh shirts simply highlighted his stunning body, compared to emphasizing his pre-teen scrawny-ness. His dark, hooded eyes were as alert as they ever were, but there was some fire behind them that she'd never noticed before. It must be all the soot in his lungs. Still, Ino thought she finally understood why Kurenai let Asuma keep smoking. Damn, he looked good when he blew smoke out of his nose. 'Like a dragon,' she thought. 'A sexy dragon.' Okay, that was a lame thing to think.

Ino had ended up the tallest kunoichi of the bunch. She was almost five-foot-ten and usually wore massive heels to make up for the rest. Today though, she was content with being average. Indeed, she was only wearing mascara for makeup and had settled with a plain purple outfit. Maybe Ino was ending up boring like everyone else. Her hair was long again, with a deep side part and billowy waves. Kankuro said her new hair made her look like a mermaid.

For the first time in her life, Ino felt inadequate against Shikamaru's looks. How silly.

"Shikamaru," she breathed out, almost like a gasp. "What are you doing here?"

She saw him rake his eyes over her and she felt goosebumps ripple her arms. "I'd heard everyone in town's seen you today, except for me. It's so troublesome. I was a little put out."

Ino gave a meek smile. "Maybe I was saving my two favorite boys for last." She brushed her fingers across the headstone. Shikamaru propelled himself over to kneel next to her. He stared at all the flowers. "They're lovely," he murmured. Ino grinned. "Only the best for you, Asuma." She pressed her lips to his carved name. A moment of silence came and went.

Shikamaru stood, offering his hand as he took a drag. She took it and swore she'd been shocked by something electric. He helped her up before swiftly pulling her into a hug and exhaling, showering her in a cloak of smoke. "It's good to see you, Ino. We missed you." Shikamaru smelled of tobacco and sweat and cologne and old books. Ino pressed her face into his chest. "He would have been proud of us," came her muffled reply. Ino hated how good his body felt against hers. He took another drag and she reveled in the feeling of his chest expanding in her arms. _Married by now_…

Ino released the hug and grinned up at him.

"You want to come over? We can drink and you can tell me about your life?" he offered with his head cocked to the side and his smug little smile on his lips.

"Yes!" That squeal was a little more high-pitched and a little more desperate than Ino would have preferred. Maybe he hadn't noticed.

X

Ino_ detested_ being a lightweight. Sure, it meant that she was tiny and a woman, two things she loved, but it was so hard to not embarrass one's self in the company of alcohol. Particularly when one's drinking partner had the alcohol tolerance of a fucking rock.

"This is unbel_ievable_! I've only had like, two beers and one shot. _CRAZY_," Ino slurred with a hiccup. "And look at you! You're still sober, aren't you?" She peered at him and almost fell off the couch. Shikamaru laughed a full, hearty laugh. It was so nice to see him relax for once in his life. She cherished these moments.

His smile could be so sweet and charming when he wasn't trying to be a smug, pretentious asshole. She wondered what he would do if she just leaned over and kissed him right then. The thought had been plaguing her for the past _forever_. She would do it in typical, unabashed Ino style, apologize for being stupid or troublesome or whatever, they would laugh about it, and then move on. That wouldn't be so bad, right?

"I'm _not_, actually," he said. "I'm rather buzzed right now, bordering on pleasantly tipsy."

"And I'm rather drunk right now, bordering on fucking shwasted! Off of, like, nothing!"

Shikamaru laughed and chugged what was left of his beer bottle. "Is that more satisfactory for you, princess?" He cringed away from when Ino moved to slap his arm, both still laughing. Oh, those lips.

"How rude! You'd think Temari would've ironed out any sass you have. _SPEAKING OF TEMARI_, how's that _going_?" Ino knew she was being belligerent, but what better excuse to be rude and nosy than when you're drunk?

He played it off well. "It's fine. It's whatever."

Well, played it off well for Shikamaru. Always the eloquent Prince Charming.

"Man, Kankuro was right," Ino said suddenly, dropping her head into her hands. "I do get loud when I'm drunk." And flirtatious. More so than usual.

Shikamaru pulled at her wrists and made her look up at him. "Ino, you've always been loud."

And just like that, it happened.

His lips hit hers with an immediacy unprecedented by the genius. Ino couldn't recall a time she'd seen him move so quickly in her life. Their teeth bumped and their lips squashed and their tongues collided all together rather unceremoniously.

She quickly pulled back, still staring at the mouth that had launched itself at her and still clutching at his shirt, though she hadn't realized she's done that in the first place. Ino glanced at Shikamaru's face, but he was still staring perplexedly at her lips.

Had he just…initiated a kiss?

Ino was speechless.

She didn't even have any words to say when he slowly leaned in again to press his mouth to hers; this time sweet, gentle, nervous. It was chaste, but his lips lingered across hers. His hands found their way to either side of her face and their breath mingled together in a sticky sweet haze of alcohol.

Ino couldn't help herself. Quickly peeking at his closed eyes, she took a breath and leaned her mouth into his, just to see what he felt like once more.

He responded with gusto.

One hand remained planted at the side of her face to make sure she wasn't going anywhere, while the other flicked to her waist to grab at her soft side. He hungrily bit at her lower lip, his tongue sliding across her mouth. She opened her mouth under him with an unintentional moan that wheezed its way up from the back of her throat. She didn't mean it. Maybe?

Shikamaru clutched at her like she was the last woman on earth and Ino clung to him like she had never known another man and their lips kept tugging, tugging, tugging. They melded together into a blob of arms and legs and wet noises as she wound up on his lap, straddling him, and kissing him fiercely.

Her heart felt like it was going to swell so hard it would pop from how excited she was. She could barely comprehend it, could barely respond fast enough, could barely breathe. What was happening? What about Temari?

That thought was completely pushed away as he suddenly grabbed her legs and made to wrap them around his waist, their lips still locked in a battle of lust. He ran his big hands up and down her thighs, gripping them tightly, while she flung her arms around his neck to pull herself even closer to him.

Ino let out a surprised squeak and pulled back to look into his face as Shikamaru stood quickly, gripping at her bottom to hold her securely. He glanced at her, out of breath, and grinned slightly. She, just as breathless with her eyes sparkling, giggled softly. They both looked a bit messy, but that didn't matter at all as he began walking in the direction of his bedroom.

Of course. How like Shikamaru. He knew she loved being picked up because that meant she was obviously skinny. He was trying to win her over.

As she looked into his eyes as they entered his room and he set her on his bed, she knew.

It was an absolute thought, regardless of the alcohol she'd consumed.

She would never be able to refuse this man.

Shikamaru had her, mind, body, heart, and soul.

Shikamaru had her.

X

He wouldn't look at her after. He could barely speak to her.

She had gathered her clothes in shame, unable to stop staring at him.

"I think…maybe you should go…" he had muttered.

Ino could not believe it. Her voice immediately said, "Yeah. I gotta go." Had she really said that?

Her eyes prickled and her throat closed, but she did not let Shikamaru see. She couldn't bear it.

She calmly walked out of his apartment, fully clothed. She calmly walked across town to her tiny apartment. She calmly walked in. She calmly made her way to the shower.

X

Her heart ached.

Ino couldn't stop thinking about him.

She had set herself up, of course. She _knew_ Shikamaru had Temari. What had she been thinking?

Ino had only set herself up as a slut.

Her common sense had vanished. Her conscious throbbed with guilt and pain and the need to see him again.

She sat on her windowsill, watching the early morning rays of dawn ascend with her wet hair.

No head of pineapple came into view. She doubted it ever would.

Ino decided right then and there that everyone was in the wrong, no matter how bad she felt for herself. She had done wrong, too. She couldn't talk to anyone about it, because she didn't want Temari to find out from the wrong person. Shikamaru would have to be the one to tell her, she decided. Not that he would, she mused, what with talking about _anything_ being too troublesome for the lazy asshole. She shouldn't have been so stupid.

Ino suddenly felt lonelier than she had in her whole entire life as she saw the peak of the sun.

With a sigh, (NOT a sigh, a deep breath) she clambered back into her room. She shut the window and closed the sash. She folded into bed.

She started to cry.

He did not come.


	2. Retaliation

A/N: You know what? Y'all wanted a second chapter? GUESS WHO'S GIVING YOU ONE. But seriously though, y'all had better be pleased as punch to be getting this. I've been wanting to do a second chapter for this story just about since I've published it, especially after all of the positive feedback I got from y'all. So thanks! It means a lot!

I'm sorry it took so long. I used inspiration from my life to write a story as a coping mechanism. I didn't know how it would end, so I couldn't exactly write more. But then I was living in France and I got struck with what to write. More is to come.

It is what it is. Hope you enjoy.

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><p><em>"Let me kiss you."<em>

_She could feel her blood; hot, bubbling, and pulsing at the most rapid speed she could remember. She was dizzy and her eyes were glazing over, her face was radiating heat and every follicle on her arms slowly stood to attention. The clarity in which she noticed minute details was astounding. The coarseness of her tongue scraped against the roof of her mouth, because she hadn't thought drinking water that night was something she should do._

_He stood over her with his right arm against the wall, blocking her only exit to the door inside, where everyone else partied into the dawn of a new start. When did he get so tall? She felt like she was drowning in him, overwhelmed in how he smelled and how he looked and how he had felt and what he would taste like. His eyes were burning or smoldering or whatever you call it when a boy is staring into your eyes like he wants to eat your heart and he knows you'll let him._

_"I…I…"_

_Why was she speechless? He leaned his body closer to her, until she felt her back hit the wall and his thigh touch hers._

_"Shikamaru…"_

X

She glanced out her window as she was dusting some blush on her cheek.

Daylight was fading fast, with hues of purples and indigos and pinks and oranges skirting each cloud in an easy, summer way. Her window was hanging languorously open, reveling in the warmth that the day had provided and the sounds the birds made and the unending smell of flowers that just made Ino shine. Flowers were sort of her thing. Obviously.

It had been over a year and a half since she had been dealt a hand by the genius nin that had changed her life.

She honestly didn't know what had become of him. She had spent the first few days (_okaaaaay_, weeks) asking around, showing up at all of his usual places, traversing the Nara grounds with the deer like a princess with her woodland critters. Ino had gotten tired of secretly derailing her life for this boy who didn't give two fucks about her or her feelings or the truth, so she stopped derailing her life at all.

Ino spent time with Sakura, rekindling any lost time she had missed with the pink-haired prodigy. She traversed through Konoha, finding places new and old that she would keep close to her heart. She tended to flowers, which was something she had sorely missed in Suna. She trained with Hinata and TenTen, and Chouji when she could find him, and would go on missions and work at the hospital and file paperwork when she was bored. She went out for drinks often with the girls, but she found that she did not mind the stigma that came with going out for drinks often. She enjoyed having fun and getting attention and singing loudly to stupidly catchy songs and reveling in how diverse her friends were but how they all fit together into one chummy glove like snug little fingers.

TenTen and Neji _were_ finally dating, as of last spring. TenTen was the emotional lead, of course, but they were precious and darling and so awkward that she sometimes blushed for them. Neji was lightening up, though he still remained that uncomfortable shade of intelligent that socially debilitated him. TenTen was chipper and deserving of whatever happiness she found, as one would expect. Ino liked hanging around the pair of them (in a group, _duh_, because alone was just weird) because they just completed each other in a quirky way, and it was nice to know that she had been right about their compatibility.

Hinata and Naruto were kind of _ugh_ inducing. They were still perfect, still in love, still dating, still cute cute cute. _Laaaaaame_. She was kidding, but only a little bit. They were both really fun in a group, as Naruto would get hammered when they all went out and no one said anything because he was the hero of Konoha and he literally could do whatever he wanted. And also because everyone knew he would go home with a considerably less drunk Hinata before it got too late. She did enjoy seeing a drunk Naruto lovingly assault any of his comrades through a round of shots and karaoke. It gave her and Sakura something to laugh about the next day over breakfast.

Since Sasuke had come back, the group dynamic had been momentarily uprooted, because of course Sakura was emotional about it and Naruto wanted to reintegrate their old teammate back into the grind and Sai was weirdly almost jealous and there were those two other ninjas who popped up with him that were sort of weird and Lee was trying to give Sakura space and BLEH. Ino still had lots of opinions about the traitor, but considering she had matured slightly (_hey, she totally had_), she was being the bigger person by keeping her big fat mouth shut.

Kiba had definitely laid off because Ino had put on her big girl panties after her Nara ordeal, as she liked to call it to herself, and set her foot down. She was not into meaningless shit right now and Kiba could go find some other girl to fuck when he was bored. It was all part of the reform Ino had made, to clear her life out. They were on good terms again, but strictly platonic, which was how she liked it.

She and Chouji were on very easy, pleasant terms, because for some reason Chouji sensed a very immediate, dangerous rift between his two best friends and had the foresight to pretend that nothing had happened while never mentioning the Nara kid around her. Oh, Chouji. He truly was the perfect specimen of friend. He would very soon make some very lucky girl very happy, Ino could smell it. Call it her psychic sense, but she had never been wrong in the matters of love.

Well. Sort of.

(Oh yes, Shino was Shino. She didn't bother.)

But summer was finally here and the night was perfect and she loved her friends and there were no better reasons to throw a party, were there? So she had done her hair up in big, loose curls with her bangs actually pulled back from her face with a glittery purple clip and with her eyelashes like butterflies, fat with black mascara and a short, ruffly white dress and towering purple heels; she looked ready to have a good time.

She glanced out her window again, having just made sure that she looked ready to kill. Dusk has fallen into a sleepier evening, with a velvet night sky that promised something. She wasn't sure what, but nothing was more exciting than the promise of something unknown.

X

The stars were out in their best array as she pranced with Sakura on her arm through the streets of Konoha.

It was funny to Ino how as twenty-something ninjas on a mission to have a good time, the streets were always their playground. No one could stop them. Civilians just rolled their eyes at their antics, their parents just shrugged at the life they led, and they expected the same of everyone else. They could literally do whatever they liked, and it was a powerful feeling to know that the streets were yours. She and Sakura were like gods on this empty street on this warm night with a bottle's worth of wine sloshing around pleasantly in their stomachs with no more ninja wars to worry about. And it felt _good_.

Sakura looked like something imagined from a fairy tale dream, with her almost shoulder-length pink hair littered with flowers (from Ino's garden, obviously) and her green dress that flowed from a short cut in the front to a longer hem in the back and billowed in the wind like she was flying on wings. Ino would be hard-pressed to admit it, but she really liked having attractive friends. It made her feel like a little cult of Amazons that no one could penetrate.

Hm. Ino mused that she was definitely on a power trip tonight. Oh well!

They came giggling and clambering up to the entrance of Chouji's estate as the clouds had cleared and the moon had risen and lit up the street like a perpetual firework display. "It's a good thing Chouji's clan is on a diplomatic mission to Suna," Sakura said as they trampled up the front walkway. "I've missed having sneaky house parties!"

Ino nodded her head sagely. "Bars are cool and all, but there's something about the thrill of being sneaky…"

Sakura let out a rather unladylike snort and covered her grin with her hands.

She and Ino shared a look.

"Ninja?" Sakura asked.

"Ninja," Ino gravely replied, until they both broke out in raucous cackles at their own cleverness. Being sneaky. Goodness.

They must have been giggling louder than they thought, because a door opened immediately for them as they arrived at the door. Chouji stood there in a nice pair of slacks and a shirt that Ino had picked out for him once, which pleased Ino very much indeed. He cocked an eyebrow and gave a rather debonair smile. "Ladies?" he crooned.

Ino squealed and gave him a quick hug, remarking "Oh Chouji! You look so charming in your shirt! Look at you, being an adorable host! Sakura, isn't Chouji just the best?"

"Oh, the very best," Sakura said with a grin. "How's it going Chouji?"

He ushered them in with the regular pleasantries, knowing the girls had started their party a little earlier, knowing that his own party had started long before. It was going to be a _good_ night.

There was some music from the bowels of the house that was pounding with hints of electronic flair that you could easily dance to and dozens of people that Ino did not recognize. People were screaming and laughing and running and Ino felt like she had been sucked into a liquor-induced, candy-coated, adolescent hurricane.

Naruto came screeching to a halt out of nowhere to throw his arms around both Sakura and Ino in a giant assault of love and orange. "SAKURA! INO! YOU FINALLY MADE IT!" he bellowed, rupturing several eardrums in the near vicinity.

"Hi Naruto!" Sakura squeaked through crushed lungs.

Naruto was followed closely by a timid, wobbly shadow of lavender and loveliness, dressed demurely but obviously drunk as hell. This was Ino's favorite: a drunk Hinata was the funniest Hinata.

"Hello girls," she mumbled before hiccupping. She let out a little yelp of apology and covered her mouth with her hands in shock, almost at disbelief that a Hyuga could hiccup. Naruto immediately released Sakura and Ino and clasped Hinata's face gingerly in his fingers. "Hina, are you all right?" he asked, almost incoherently. She looked up at him with bleary white eyes and sooty lashes, nodding. They looked like they were about to have a moment.

Ino wanted to barf.

"Oh God, there's Lee," Sakura whispered shrilly into Ino's ear and sprinted to some other room buried within the Akimichi estate.

The wine sloshed warmly in Ino's stomach.

Oh yes.

This would be a good night.

X

The concept of time had completely escaped Ino. She had no idea what time it was, but the house was hot and people were dancing and she was having a great time. For Ino, the greatest part of a party was getting to be wild and dance with everyone she knew and many she didn't. There was anonymity in just letting go and not speaking and not caring and being sweaty and moving in time to very fast music. There was something very safe about it.

Someone had shattered several bottles on the dance floor, but Ino didn't mind. She was dancing amongst flashing lights and her feet ground the glass into a fine, glittering dust. It made her feel powerful again, even though she had no idea where Sakura was and she was even more drunk than before. Stars were in her eyes and glitter was on the floor. Everything was gold for her, just like her flaxen drooping curls.

It was getting to that point of the night where couples were clearly forming and the pairs for the night were set in stone. Who was going to fuck whom, she wondered. At least she didn't have to wonder about herself. Flying solo _again_.

Not that she minded too terribly. Yeah, it sucked that she didn't get to be held in someone's arms or kissed boldly on the lips or feel fingers running through her hair or wake up next to someone and feel all warm and rainbow-y inside, but she didn't mind. Really.

Actually, she had not been on her game at all tonight. She, Ino, the champion of romance, the kunoichi of the seduction mission, the unabashed flirt of the Rookie Nine, had just not cared at all tonight. She didn't bat her eyes at strangers across the house and she took shots by herself and she was currently dancing by herself. That was okay though. She just didn't care.

Through the darkness of the house and the pulsating beat of the music and the heat of sweaty young bodies, Chouji swung up to her, looking a little sad and the worse for wear. She leaned in very close to his ear and put her hands on his shoulders. "Are you ok?" she asked. The crowd pushed in as a popular song came on and everyone rushed to dance. He pressed his ample cheek to hers. "Ino," he mumbled. "I'm feeling really lonely." Ino immediately wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace and asked "Why?" They remained rather still as everyone thrashed about them.

"Literally everyone has someone. Look at them. Everyone but me."

"Chouji. Don't you dare think like that!" she said indignantly. "Besides, you're wrong. I don't have anyone either." (She said that a lot more proudly than she felt it.) "And I'll let you in on a secret. I had a premonition, or a thought, or a whatever, that you're going to meet someone very soon."

"Really?" Chouji asked hopefully, his breath smelling of beer and his eyes dripping of loneliness and fatigue.

Ino cocked an eyebrow and a hip and smirked. "Who are you talking to? I am the angel of our team and the warrior of love, and I am never wrong!"

Chouji let out a laugh and glanced around. "It seems we're the only ones not dancing. Will you dance with me until I find The One, Warrior of Love?"

She grinned her most winsome smile and murmured, "I'd be honored to."

The darkness of the room was immediately consuming. People were everywhere in writhing masses and Ino saw no point in fighting the impulse. The music was just what she needed; loud and brash and harsh but still rhythmically beautiful. She felt like a butterfly floating amongst a crowd of moths or bees. Her eyes closed and her hips swayed and her feet moved and man, it felt good to be drunk and young and beautiful, even if she was a little lonely.

A pair of strong hands gently closed in on her waist and she just smiled. Guess she had been on her game after all. That was pretty flattering. She leaned back into a man's strong chest and pressed her ass into his pelvis, feeling him jump a little in surprise. She couldn't repress a giggle. Boys were all the same, no matter how bold or cool they acted. They were all a little dweeby.

She raised her hands in the air and just let her body move with this new body she had found, his arms encircling her waist intimately and his hands pressed on her hipbones.

It felt like two pieces of a puzzle coming together. The curve of her back lined beautifully up to the chest behind her. She felt lovingly encircled by strong arms and she slid one of her hands up his jawline to the nape of his neck. Slightly stubbly, but pleasant to touch. It felt like coming home after being away for a long, long time.

Sigh.

(That was from BEHIND her, not from herself.)

His body just welcomed hers so evidently, it was beginning to feel that he wasn't just dancing with her, he was holding something precious.

This was a good night.

This was a great night.

This was the perfect night. Her body fit perfectly with this stranger's and she was perfectly drunk and she was a perfectly happy girl. It even smelled perfect! The smell of the air was intoxicating; various perfumes and colognes being sweat off, sticky sweet alcohol, and tobacco and old books.

Ino's body suddenly shut down and her adrenaline flew into overdrive. Her eyes flew open and the body behind her tensed with hers.

How could she be so fucking stupid literally all of the time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a wide-eyed Chouji desperately seeking someone to hide behind, out of Ino's path, but everyone else was dancing. Where were all her friends? People she knew? (He was right there.) (Oh my God.) (He was _right. There._)

Shakily, she started forward, not looking back. (Don't look at him don't look at him don't you dare look at him.)

A hand grabbed at her wrist and she heard the start of her name coming off of his lips.

(Don't look at him or you're lost.)

"How dare you," she hissed with every ounce of venom and toxicity she could muster as she slapped that hand away, and trounced to the back door with her dress flurrying behind her.

X

To be continued, y'all!


	3. Rehabilitation

A/N: Alright babies, here you go. I told you I would get this up quicker. LIFE, amiright?

* * *

><p>Ino was a very proud girl, and it took lots for her to admit when she did something she was ashamed of. Which is why she waited until she was in the cover of darkness before taking of her heels to flee. The panic and adrenaline were still coursing through her bloodstream as she sprinted through the Akimichi grounds, looking for somewhere she could be safe, anywhere.<p>

This was a really fucking awful night.

How on earth had Shikamaru shown up? Where had he come from? WHAT. THE. FUCK.

This was not supposed to happen.

She could feel her throat begin to burn and the insides of her nostrils stung. "This was supposed to be a good night," she garbled through her building tears. Ino kicked at a rock with her bare foot, which shattered against a tree with a bang. She had her heels in one hand and wiped at her face with the other.

This was supposed to be a night with a really awesome party and her friends and peace amongst the nations and looking really good! UGH.

She wandered into a clearing of trees far in the back of the Akimichi grounds before finally leaning against a trunk for rest. She was too drunk for this kind of emotional strain, she knew it.

And now she was pissed.

What kind of gall did Shikamaru have, thinking he could just come up to her and touch her like that, like what had happened over a year ago just didn't occur? Like they had been dating this whole time, like he was the kind of guy that would do that, like he was forward, like he was honest, like he had said a single fucking thing!

_How dare he_.

"FUCK!" she screamed, chucking her shoes as hard as she could into a tree with a loud _crack,_ before breaking down into painful sobs and curling into a ball. She really had thought she had dealt with this.

Guess not.

"Ino…"

She whirled around and there he was.

(_Oh shit she forgot she wasn't supposed to look_.)

He was standing there, hand on a tree, about a hundred feet from her, in slim dark slacks and a white button down shirt with a skinny black tie. His hair was up, of course. She got the feeling that only she, Chouji, and Shikamaru's parents had ever seen him with his hair down. He had a dewy look of sweat on his face, but it made him look fresh, not sticky. A cigarette was noticeably absent in his fingers, but the look of smoke-tinged lungs rimmed his eyes. He looked skinnier, she thought. A little less muscle, maybe.

Her breath was taken from her. He was as devastatingly what she wanted as a year ago.

_Married by now…_

The thought floated by her brain as if summoned from some demonic part of her memory. She'd completely forgotten Sakura had said that.

She realized she could absolutely see herself married to this man.

IF HE WASN'T SUCH AN ASS.

She stood up and turned away from him, scrubbing at her tear-stained face.

"What are you doing here, Shikamaru?" she asked, as calmly and coldly as she could manage.

It took him a while to reply.

"I…just got back."

Ino really wanted to sit down, because she didn't think she could handle speaking to him standing up, but she wanted to be ready in case she needed to make a quick getaway. She was in no way prepared for this. Her heart felt weak and angry.

"Oh really?" she hissed waspishly. "Then I'd better give you some sex as a welcome home present, don't you think? That sounds like an awesome idea!"

"Ino-"

"_Don't you fucking start, Shikamaru_," she reeled on him again, fresh tears in her eyes. Her mascara was running again. "How fucking dare you put your slimy hands on me after what you did. I can't believe you. I mean, I couldn't believe what you did that one night, but _this?_ After not talking to me for over a _year?_ How fucking dare you. You are really-"

"Ino-"

"_WHAT?!"_

She realized she was breathing heavily and her hands were shaking and she was leaking tears and her throat hurt and her nose burned and she sighed.

Ino felt like she had completely lost control. She wobbled a little on her feet.

The thing was that Shikmaru was shaking as badly as she was. His knees looked like they could barely hold him up and his hands kept petting at his pockets liked he hoped a box of cigarettes would magically appear there to give him something to do.

Ino took a deep breath. "What?" she asked again, much more calmly and a little weary. "What could you possibly have to say to me…after so much time?"

A hand went back to smooth at his hair. He was about to speak.

"Will you let me talk, Ino?" Her name on his lips still elicited shivers. "I have things I need to tell you. I wasn't planning on seeing you tonight, so I'm not exactly prepared, but you're here, and you need to know." His voice was husky and a little bit frantic and _oh god she had missed it_.

He trembled a little under her severe gaze before she nodded shortly. "If you piss me off at all, I'm making no promise that I will stay. Because I am already _furious_."

Shikamaru gulped and raised his eyes to hers from their spot on the ground. He was terrified of her. _Awesome._

"I didn't talk to you because I was scared, Ino." She rolled her eyes immediately. "No, no, I was! I… Fuck." He turned into the tree he was leaning against, pressing his forehead to the bark.

Ino loved seeing how she was torturing him, but she wasn't ready to let him know that. She started to move to collect her shoes.

"No!"

Shikamaru found enough energy to practically sprint to catch her wrist. Ino hadn't seen him move that fast since he had kissed. "Ino, I need you!" he panted.

She raised her perfect eyebrows at that. "Is that why you fucked me and told me to get out of your life?" she spat.

"No! I…" His dark eyes shyly, guiltily, slowly found her blue ones, his circled with exhaustion and darkness and sleep deprivation and hers with mascara and glitter and rubbed raw from tears. His large, calloused hand felt nice on her skin.

_Don't let go_.

"I was terrified of you."

He let go.

His hand immediately drifted to a favorite position of sheepishness or laziness or disdain at the back of his neck, where he scratched. It gave him something to do to avoid directly looking at her.

"That makes no sense," she said, like an exhausted sigh. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"No, Ino, I'm trying to tell you I—." His hands covered his eyes. Having to exert effort to explain himself must have been horrendous.

"_I love you, Ino_," he said severely.

She was frozen on the spot, but her adrenaline and mouth were not. "You've got a real funny way of showing it." Disdain and pain were dripping from her lips.

Shikamaru looked at her like she had wanted to be looked at by him for a long time. There was longing, there was apology, there was suffering, there was his natural look of calculating how to most easily navigate the situation, and there was complete and utter adoration. The moonlight hit him so that he looked paler than he was, but it made his eyes dark and melting and his lips soft and inviting, especially as he bit at them nervously.

"I've loved you for a very, very, very long time, Ino. I was dating Temari because I thought it was wrong to be in love with you because of our families, and I wanted to date a girl who wasn't troublesome like you. But I need how troublesome you are. Its impossible to live without. But seeing you that night after you'd come back home, I couldn't help myself. I had to be with you. I just… I felt bad after that, like I'd betrayed Temari, but I'd betrayed you more. I thought I revealed everything about how I felt about you in one go, and that you would hate me for being too weak to say something about how I felt for you. So I got scared. I signed up for an S class mission the next day that would get me out of the country so you wouldn't have to deal with me. And I got back yesterday."

He looked very much out of breath, and very much like he wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

She eyed him up and down for almost a minute.

"Go pick up my shoes."

He raised an eyebrow at her but silently obliged, waiting for her response.

"Walk with me," she said.

He followed silently behind her as she slowly started to make her way back to Chouji's house.

Her breath rattled noisily in her lungs as her heart thudded in her chest and her mind reeled. Ino couldn't recall her adrenaline moving so quickly on a quiet night in her life. At least all the adrenaline made her feel slightly more sober.

After walking in anticipated silence for a few minutes, she said softly, "You say you love me." She looked to him. He looked, funnily enough, like a deer. His eyes were wide and he seemed quite still, but ready to flee. It must have been his cheekbones that were deer-like.

_Sigh._

Here goes nothing.

"I waited for over a year for you. You never said a single thing to me. You never wrote. You never left me any word. You left me with _nothing_. I was _devastated_." Her words hit him like weapons, and he visibly flinched at all of them. He seemed so small. Ino felt even smaller. Being vulnerable was something she was not good at.

"I was terrified of you, Ino. I thought I had fucked everything up by drunkenly going for the girl I needed."

"Yeah well you did," she snapped, and he was still and silent once more. "You _really_ fucked up, Shikamaru."

It took her a moment to compose herself again.

"…I thought I had been an awful friend for making you cheat on Temari. I convinced myself that I had made you do something reprehensible."

He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked shyly. "Reprehensible? That's a big word for you."

UGH. "Shut up, Shikamaru!" That didn't come out as nasty as she wanted it to. The words sounded like they were fighting back a smile. "I'm trying to make you realize how bad you ruined me!"

They had come to a natural stop, just at the outskirts of the porch, hidden in the darkness of not resting in the glow of the booze and the party. Ino could hear people dancing and drinking and laughing from inside the house, but she and Shikamaru were still sheltered enough to be hurting.

He looked at her sadly.

"Ino, that's the last thing I wanted to do. I thought I was saving you by running off. Ruining you is literally the biggest failure I could ever commit. I never, ever intended that."

Ino leaned against the wall of the house and put her fingers to her temples. This was such a headache. She could feel tears bubbling in the corners of her eyes and a rough heat rising in her throat and that sucked. It was just all so…troublesome.

She felt Shikamaru moving closer towards her. She lashed out weakly with an arm, trying to signal him to get away. "Don't come near me," she mumbled, fighting her rising impulse to cry.

"Ino…"

She felt his strong, big, clumsy, rough fingers gingerly touch away the first little buds of tears at her eyes, and when she pushed him away again, he held her shoulders and planted his feet right in front of her.

"Ino, I haven't been dating Temari since the day after you came home. I told her everything about how I felt for you and broke it off. I'm sorry if I inadvertently made you feel guilty, especially because its something you didn't even need to feel guilty about."

She looked up at him like she had been punched in the stomach and realized how much she had loved him, did love him, would always love him. And how much that could hurt.

"Let me kiss you."

She could feel her blood; hot, bubbling, and pulsing at the most rapid speed she could remember. She was dizzy and her eyes were glazing over, her face was radiating heat and every follicle on her arms slowly stood to attention. The clarity in which she noticed minute details was astounding. The coarseness of her tongue scraped against the roof of her mouth, because she hadn't thought drinking water that night was something that she should do.

He stood over her with his right arm against the wall, blocking her only exit to the door inside, where everyone else partied into the dawn of a new start. When did he get so tall? She felt like she was drowning in him, overwhelmed in how he smelled and how he looked and how he had felt and what he would taste like. His eyes were burning or smoldering or whatever you call it when a boy is staring into your eyes like he wants to eat your heart and he knows you'll let him.

"I…I…"

Why was she speechless? He leaned his body closer to her, until she felt her back hit the wall and his thigh touch hers.

"Shikamaru…"

…

"Ok."

She gingerly raised herself to tiptoe and carefully brought her dry mouth to his.

His lips were softer than she thought they'd be, and she was a little embarrassed at how her own lips must feel and her breath must taste. The nearness of his face was warm. They both kept their lips closed, but their mouths slowly shifted from a chaste peck to a kiss of claiming what feels like yours. His hands slipped naturally around her shoulders and waist, and her went to his neck and the back of his head.

There was trepidation and nervousness, but a sense of fate that made it seem ok to be doing this.

Ino's body was caught snuggly between the wall and his, and she was acutely aware of his skinny thigh between her very soft, womanly ones. Everything about the way he felt against her was as if they had been genetically designed for each other.

Their lips broke out of necessity and their cheeks immediately found each other so that their faces could still be touching. Ino was still firmly in his arms and he seemed so utterly desperate to hold her. This was everything she had dreamed it would be. Almost.

"Shikamaru," she said, a little breathlessly. "Yes," he replied quickly, rather unlike his lazy self. She slowly began to untangle herself from his arms, and she could feel his body intrinsically protest.

"You had your turn to say your piece, and now I need to say mine."

Woo. She had forgotten what it was actually like to kiss Shikamaru. It really was breath-taking. She was a little woozy and uneasy on her feet as it was, and kissing him helped in no way at all.

But she soldiered on through how she just wanted to kiss him until all the anger had left her, and said exactly what was on her mind.

"I'm still pissed at you. You can't just come back here and say you love me and be all like, 'Oh it was all a mistake and I was on a mission and we're perfect together and blah blah blah whatever else you said' and have everything be all perfect in the world."

He had taken a step or two back from her and looked like he was expecting the worst, but still hungered for her to be in his arms. Hm. Only Shikamaru could make that look dashing, she thought. On anyone else it would be creepy, but on him it looked so dear. She crossed her arms and took a deep breath.

(That was _totally_ a deep breath this time, too!)

"The world doesn't work like that. I don't work like that. I still have to deal with the fact that I felt betrayed by you for over a year, and still kind of was, and that I spent all that time trying to get over you and work out my own life. My world doesn't revolve around you. "

She could see the hurt building in his eyes. She knew what he expected her to say. His hand flew to the back of his neck again, and scratched.

"I… I get it. You…you're right, Ino. I'll… I'll just…"

"Wait."

His eyes met hers with the smallest glimmer of hope.

_Married by now…_

"First of all, you dropped my shoes over there, before I stopped. I expect you to treat a lady right, so go get my shoes, you bum."

He raised an incredulous eyebrow at her and let out a sigh of exasperation, but still followed her command without a word and retrieved her shoes. A touch of humor shimmered in his eyes when he looked at her.

She sucked on her bottom lip as she slid her shoes back onto her feet.

"And…look. I am pissed. Things aren't just going to be okay with me right off the bat. But… you could walk me home tonight, for a start. I need time. But you're back in my life, whether I wanted it or not, so I thing we should both take whatever this is slowly, to figure it out. …Ok?"

His eyes looked cloudy to her, with an innate pleasantness that made her stomach flip a little.

"Ok," he said softly. "I can do slowly."

They regarded each other in the stillness of the very early morning, where it had passed the point of darkness. The sky was ever so slowly inching toward a lighter shade of blue, and some of the summer stars were beginning to fade. It had to be almost five in the morning.

X

They passed, dreamlike, through the house, where some people were still dancing sloppily and blaring loud music, while most had passed out on couches or beds or chairs or the floor in a sleepy, drunken stupor.

Couples were sprawled everywhere and drool was hanging out of open mouths and clothes were disheveled and everyone looked like they had had a time. Chouji was curled up quite comfortably with a brown-haired girl in his lap, both asleep on a reclining chair. Ino told herself to remember that picture and to inquire after the girl when she and Chouji next met.

Shikamaru kept true to his word and walked her back to her apartment in the dregs of the early morning, and remained a gentleman and did not ask to go with her up to her room. He softly, tenderly, slowly kissed her on the cheek and squeezed her hand. "May I see you sometime soon?" he asked very carefully, regarding her as the most precious thing he had yet to handle.

She looked at him once more and felt so glad to have her eyes on him again.

"Yeah. I don't know, we'll do something easy that won't make me mad at you."

He smiled a little. "Oh really? That narrows the list down."

She didn't rise to his gentle teasing.

"We'll go to a hill and watch some clouds. And we won't say a word."

"Ok," he said, and wished her goodnight, and he began his walk back home.

Ino watched him go for a minute, before heading upstairs to her tiny little apartment. She calmly opened the door. She calmly made her way to the bathroom. She calmly undressed and calmly stepped in the shower.

She wasn't sure quite exactly how she felt. But it was okay.

This was an okay night.

This was a night of change.

She would deal.

She sighed.

Hm.

That actually was a sigh.


End file.
